Cellist Gerald Appleman, right, presented one of the cellos he made to Cornell's Department of Music Sept. 2, in appreciation of Scott Tucker, director of choral music. Appleman donated the instrument, based on a Stradivarius model, after his wife, Mickey, took a Cornell's Adult University course in madrigals with Tucker over the summer.

Appleman, a Juilliard graduate, performed with the New York Philharmonic from 1966 to 1998; he played at Robert F. Kennedy's funeral in 1968 and at the Berlin Wall under the direction of Leonard Bernstein in 1989. He now performs, on his own creations, with the New York Philomusica chamber ensemble.